October, 1925
INDUSTRIAL A N D ENGINEERING CHEiVISTRY
caused by the war-had just come into bearing during 1920 and 1921. The resulting overproduction of crude rubber caused the planters’ selling price to drop below production cost and this seriously threatened the rubber industry. The Stevenson plan to correct this situation is based on a graduated tax upon all exports of crude rubber above an amount determined beforehand. Each estate’s capacity for production was estimated and beginning with the first of November, 1922, exports from that estate at the minimum tax rate were permitted only up to 60 per cent of this rated capacity. Above that amount the tax became prohibitive. According to the plan this rate of export was to be maintained for a period of 3 months, after which it was to be automatically revised according to the price of crude rubber in London. If this price averaged between 1 s. 3 d. and 1 s. 6 d. during the quarter, an increase to 65 per cent was to be permitted during the subsequent quarter. Bimilarly, if the average price was greater than 1 s. 8 d., the increase was to be twice as much, permitting 70 per cent of capacity to be exported during the subsequent period, and so on. If, on the contrary, rubber prices declined below a shilling per pound, an automatic reduction of 5 per cent was to be made from the quantity exportable a t the minimum duty. If this scheme had been successful in keeping the price of rubber above 1s. 8 d. for one year from November, 1922, all restrictions would then have been removed, or if the price had remained between 1 6 . 3 d. and 1 s. 6 d. for two years the restrictions would have become inoperative a t the end of that period. This was not the case, however, because rubber stocks throughout the world amounted t o 110,000 tons in January, 1922, on which the rubber industry had drawn to the extent of 98,000 tons by April 1, 1925. During the period from Kovember, 1922, to April, 1926, prices in New York-closely related to London figures-actually fluctuated on this account between a low figure of 161/4 cents per pound and a high one of 37 cents per pound, which naturally set the expansion of exports back very considerably from the maximum possible under the plan. During the spring of this year the building of automobiles was carried outbat 35 to 40 per cent greater production than was originally scheduled. Since automobile tires consume about 80 per cent of the world’s rubber, this made an entirely unexpected drain on the dwindling stocks which it has been impossible to offset quickly by increasing production in the East. By the first of July, 1925, all the rubber reserves had been consumed and prices began to skyrocket, rising to a maximum of $1.24 per pound in the New York market at one time .during the month that followed. Although there does not now exist any actual shortage of rubber in the world, an apparent one has been made-possible by the fact that shipment from plantations require about three months to reach consuming centers. A few months may be expected to bring about a proper readjustment of affairs without further trouble.
1001
Industrial Power
In our review last year the development of a mercury vapor boiler for power purposes was m e n t i ~ n e d . ~This year an even more startling device has come to light. An internal combustion boiler in which the gaseous fuel is burned in actual contact with the water in it has been put into successful operation in England on a fairly large scale. So revolutionary, and apparently so impossible, an idea as 100 per cent utilization of the heating value of fuel in a boiler has actually been accomplished by this means. Our entire conception of evaporation and power generation may have to be revised on this account. I n addition. it has been found that much greater efficiencies are achieved by generating steam under critical conditions than have hitherto been possible under ordinary conditions. The whole trend of steam power thought has been toward higher and higher pressures and temperatures, and the results of British investigators indicate that sharp increase in efficiency is attained a t 365” C. and 194.6 atmospheres (the critical points for water). New Elements Two new elements have been discovered during the year by the use of X-ray spectra. These have been called masurium (Ma) and rhenium (Re), and occupy positions 43 and 75 in the periodic system. These elements were discovered in columbite by German investigators, and their presence in the periodic table leaves only three probable vacancies to be filled. Questionable Developments Fakes are always to be found on the fringes of science utilizing the earnest work of research laboratories for coaxing the unwary dollar from the innocent bystander. The announcement by the Post Office Department that the use of the mails had been denied the Burnham Chemical Company, supposedly engaged in the exploitation of American potash and for that purpose accumulating much unprotected capital, places a period to its activities. The announcement here a year ago of the synthesis of sugar by E. C. C. Baly in Liverpool was immediately followed by efforts on the part of certain fakers to promote a company for doing this commercially. The symposium on corrosion before the AMERICAN CHEMICALSOCIETY’SBaltimore meeting attracted much favorable public notice and on this account was immediately followed by efforts to capitalize this publicity for the promotion of an asphalt base paint, which was claimed to be “breathed into the pores of the metal” and thus render it permanently resistant to all chemical agencies including “hydrofloic acid.” A process for the commercial extraction of gold from rocks in which ordinary assays failed to find a trace of it has come in for court scrutiny, with the result that a ban has been placed on the sale of the stock of the company promoting it.
American Efforts to Grow Rubber
Tenth Revision of Pharmacopeia Available
Investigations by the Department of Commerce of the growing of rubber and close cooperation with industry on the subject have resulted in the taking of steps by American rubber manufacturers to set out plantations of their own rather than to depend on foreign-owned sources of supply. One American firm has been carrying on extensive experiments in Liberia and has recently announced that it will expand its plantations to cover a million acres there. This development is particularly interesting as showing the results to be accomplished by the cooperation of government departments and industry, and it is expected that others along the same line will follow.
The Tenth Revision of the United States Pharmacopeia, which is now off the press, contains many new drug standards which will become effective January 1, 1926. The Pharmacopeia, which is being translated into Spanish for use in Spanish-speaking countries, contains the following announcement : Biological assays have now been made compulsory for a number of important drugs and preparations, and in order to facilitate the adoption of these standards and to provide a greater degree of uniformity in the application of these assays, the officials of the Bureau of Chemistry of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, have indicated their willingness t o supply substances conforming to the new pharmacopeia1 standards.
The use of these standards is optional, however, but it seems fair to assume that they will be made the basis of comparison by all manufacturers.
